“Pray Without Ceasing!”
Have you ever wondered about the question “Why do we pray?” If you grew up in a Christian household or family you may have been taught how to pray since you were old enough to speak, and yet as natural as it feels to you, as you have continued in your understanding of God and His word, you may have found yourself asking the question, “Why do we pray?” I mean, if God is Sovereign, which He is, and if He is ultimately in control and His Will will be done...why are we praying? Furthermore, if God already knows what we will say before we say it, which scripture testifies that He does, then why say anything at all? Is there a purpose to our prayers? Is there an answer to why we should pray? Let’s contemplate a few of the answers to this question in list form.
1.) Because God says so! Have you ever told that phrase to your child... “because I said so!” I think my daughter must have heard that statement a few times in her young life, because when she was quite small I was preparing a teaching about women of the Bible and for fun I asked her, “Why do you think women exist?” She replied immediately and seriously.... “because God said so!”Boom! End of discussion...that was enough for her! I wonder if we carry that same sense of reverence for our God, where in simplistic answer to this question we could say... “We pray because God said so!”
To be absolutely clear however this statement is a true one! From the beginning, God taught His people to pray, His Word declares to us many times over to Pray without Ceasing, to never stop praying, to pray continually...etc. And then just to make sure we understand His Message, The Message came down as the Messenger and modeled the importance of prayer for us. Jesus prayed at all times, even though He and the Father were one. He lived it as an example and then He purposefully taught His disciples how to pray! We pray because God has taught us and told us to pray! - 1 Thess. 5:16-18, Romans 12:12, Eph. 6:18, Col. 4:2, Matt. 6:9-13
2.) We pray because it is relationship/conversation with our God. He made us for relationship, and prayer at its core is two way communication between us and our Lord. We share our hearts with Him and He shares His heart with us! We pour ourselves out to Him and He pours Himself into us. -Ps. 145:18, Jer. 29:12-13, 33:3, Heb. 4:16,
3.) We pray to declare our Dependence on and our Faith in HIM. When we pray we are acknowledging that He is our loving Father and that He is also the one who is supreme and sovereign as ruler over all. We bring Him our needs, desires, praise, gratitude, and our deepest thoughts all because we trust Him with them! We believe that He alone can carry these things perfectly and ordain them to be what is right and pleasing in His sight and what is ultimately for our good! We declare that all of life is beyond us and that we desperately need HIM!
4.). We pray in order to unify our hearts with His heart. All I can say is that there is something powerful that takes place inside me when I come to God in true prayer. I find that my soul finds rest. I am at peace. I am energized like I hadn’t been before and you know why, because at that moment creation is merging with its creator! That is what we were made for and as we become unified with the one who made us, we become what we were designed to be! We are restored. It is like we are plugging into our source. We can enter a time of prayer with no hope or no joy and we can leave that time with hope restored, and joy anew. It is not even about the outcome of our actual prayers it was just about connecting with our creator!
5.). Finally, Prayer changes things! This is just how God has ordained it to be! He doesn’t have to do things this way, but He has chosen to allow us to partner with Him through prayer. He works in extraordinary and miraculous ways as we pray! We are to pray in Faith believing and prayer is also what will Fuel our faith! As we see God act in response to our prayers it increases our faith! I know we have all seen God move through prayer! He set an example of this in the Bible many times, from Moses praying that God would not strike down Israel in His anger and God relenting, to God moving through the prayers of Elijah and Elisha, Jesus prayed specifically so that people would know that God hears our prayers and works through them. Think about Jesus praying for Lazarus and then raising him from the dead! From the early church onward the saints of God have prayed in accordance with the Will of God and God has moved in mighty ways!
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.